“He was. I didn’t see it. Because, you know, years before I had another serious relationship. Someone who worked for McCarthy’s. More hands on. Not my normal type, but he was hot.”
“Seriously, you’re going to say that to me?” First that the other ex wasn’t her type when neither was he. And then the hot statement.
She laughed. “Come on. Why lie? That was Jack and he was an asshole. He was using me to move up some, running his mouth about things he shouldn’t have. Personal things. Myfather fired his butt right away. It was a hard situation for a while going to work because people were keeping their distance from me.”
“Which had to be more painful.”
“See, you get that.”
“Back to Victor, Mr. Perfect.”
She burst out in a fit of giggles. “Oh, not perfect. I noticed things were off when he’d never initiate sex.”
“Never?”
“Rarely,” she said. “In the beginning he did, but then slowly it turned into me having to do everything.”
“No sex drive?”
“He had one. He had a fetish that came out. In front of everyone, he was cool, cocky, confident, and as you said, a suck-up. Behind closed doors he wanted me to be domineering.”
“You do a good job of telling me what to do,” he said, closing one eye at her.
Not that he wanted to think of her doing that with some other dude. Someone who fit more into her social circle.
“Very funny. But that is authenticity. True feelings you bring out of me. Victor wanted to be bound. He wanted leather masks. He wanted to call meMommy.”
“You’re joking.”
“The appalled look on your face is how I felt. He started slowly. I was like, okay, he just likes a woman to take charge. I can do this. But then it progressed. The Mommy comment flipped a switch.”
“From hot to repulsed?”
She pointed at him. “That’s it exactly. I threw my hands up and said, mood over. The joke went too far.”
“But he wasn’t joking?”
“No. He tried to say he was, but I knew the truth. There was no turning back. I knew he’d get back to where he was and pushit further in the future. I found all sorts of dominatrix material in his phone history once. He asked me to look up a restaurant while he was driving and my phone was in my purse in the backseat.”
“And you saw what he really wanted?”
“Yep. That was shortly after the whole Mommy thing. I broke things off with him a week later when he was pushing for us to move in together.”
“I’m guessing he didn’t take it too well?”
“Oh no. The side of him outside the bedroom everyone saw witnessed his nonstop calls, texts, begging and pleading with me to give him another chance. Jayce came to town and he and Gabe took care of it last year.”
“Last year?” he asked. “You said it was two years since you’d had sex.”
“He wasn’t stopping. It was annoying. Not threatening, just annoying. When he showed up at my condo twice, I’d had enough. Once Gabe found out, I knew it’d end.”
“With Gabe’s help.”
“So there you go. What we’ve got, I like. But if you pull out any kind of leather and ask me to put it on or you’ll wear it, think twice. I’ve got a trigger there now.”
“Never going to happen,” he said. “How would you feel about some silk ties though?”
She moved over and climbed onto his lap. “You mean like tying my hands over my head type thing?”
